Splatoon proved to be a successfully launched Nintendo IP when it first came out on the Wii U a couple years back, but the popularity of the original game was obviously hamstrung by the platform’s poor sales. With the Switch, it was given a new lease of life on a console that is rapidly growing, so it was always going to be interesting to see how the series would perform on a better platform. Now, the numbers have begun coming in from Japan—where Splatoon is most popular—and the numbers are quite impressive thus far.

Famitsu recently reported that Splatoon 2 sold 670,955 copies within the first three days of its launch, and that’s only counting the physical copies sold, including download cards and those sold in a bundle deal. That makes it the biggest debut for any Switch title yet—yes, even including Breath of the Wild—and the highest selling Switch title yet. For reference, the original Splatoon sold 156,610 in its first four days, and topped out at just over 1.5 million in total, meaning that Splatoon 2 has nearly hit half of its predecessor’s total sales in Japan in just three days.

What do you think? Did you get Splatoon 2? How well do you think it’s done in other territories? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

I downloaded Splatoon 2 the night it came out. It took me 2 hours to get into the eshop because it crashed with so many people trying to buy the game here in the states. That seems to bode well for sales.

The Switch sold ~102,000 units during the same week in Japan. It's the highest week of hardware sales since the Switch's launch week, but still a bit low IMO considering how freaking massive Splatoon 2 was.

Splatoon is obviously a big thing in Japan so I kinda expected this. They're practically the opposite of the US anyway. BotW killed it in US, not Japan. Splatoon 2 killed it in Japan, not US. It'll easily cross 1.2 million in a week, and that's a conservative guesstimate.

That is pretty damn impressive, I know that Japan loves Splatoon but holy crap. I've been playing it since Friday and already feel addicted like with the first Splatoon, it's just an amazing and INKredibley (ya I went there) fun game.

Bought it, absolutely love what I played so far. I'm a little over halfway through the campaign and enjoy the level designs and boss battles but the multiplayer is a blast too and I rarely play games online. There's something addictive about Splatoon 2 though, going to be playing a lot of it throughout the rest of the year for sure. Might actually be even with Zelda as my favorite Switch game to this point.

Ordered the limited edition Splatoon 2 Nintendo Switch Bundle from the Official Nintendo UK Store at the weekend, to put away for my son for Christmas... got an email from them yesterday to say they've cancelled the order and are working to remove it from their website... :-/ Gutted

Well done Splatoon 2. Yeah, it is an amazink game and a very addictive one, even though I got splatted a lot. It's one game I have been wantink since the Wii U and happy to finally be able to play it on the Switch! Lovink it since launch!

@ottospooky I highly doubt that. Splatoon seems to be like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. in that it's a multiplayer series with one installment per console generation. And sure, it sells very well, but don't forget, Mario Kart was the best selling game on the Wii and Wii U, and Nintendo made only one installment of that series per console.

@westman98 Don't forget that Japan have issues with Switch stock right now. So who knows how much bigger those numbers could/can be once more are in Japan's hands. I expect those Splatoon 2 lifetime sales to triple at least in the next month or so.

@deucezulu22 Well it's pretty obvious if you note the buzz in Twitter for Splatoon 2 from the American side. There are pretty few tweets and even less hype for it on YouTube as far as I can see (major YouTubers aren't talking about it much, I don't know about minor YouTubers). Meanwhile in Japan there are long lines everywhere since last week. Plus people on Niconico have gone crazy over the game while most Japanese people are totally in the buzz on social media. The buzz in the media can greatly determine the popularity of a game or a console in general, credits to the Wii U.

Absolutely love it. I really think that Splatoon, and possibly ARMS (though it is still too soon to tell I realise) will become one of those IP franchises that will always have an incredible following amongst casual and hardcore Nintendo gamers; not quite as big or as universal as Mario Kart or Pokemon, but more along the lines of something like Super Smash Bros. I don't think they will milk the franchise with a new version every year or two, but I can see them releasing them one game per console making it very special

Will be interesting to see how this does in the US. I didn't pick it up on my Wii U, but decided to give it a go this time around and it's a pretty fun game. I like how quick of games you can do, and Salmon run is pretty fun as well, which the original didn't have from what i understand.

@Yasaal I guarantee it sold at least 500k copies here in NA. My guess is even more. If Splatoon isn't over 1.5 million by now I would be totally surprised. It's a game people know about this time around.

@Yasaal Major youtubers are talking about Splatoon. The western audince gave Satoon game of the year for a reason. Besides, those Lines in Japan are mainly for the switch. Popular for Splatoon from both regions are pretty much the same.

@deucezulu22 Not to the extent of it in Japan. Plus, few YouTubers talk about it. Aside from 'Nintendo' YouTubers like NintenDaan, Gamexplain there's literally no one else talking about it who isn't a Nintendo YouTuber. In terms of sales, like I mentioned before it's less than Japan and will continue to be. There's no denying that Splatoon is more popular in Japan than America. Look at those long lines for once.

@Yasaal In terms of Sales? What evidence do you have to back that up? The lines are only a glass half full, literally those lines. are for the switch itself. So chill, whether we know how much the game sold in every territory is unknown. I just find it funny how you disregard the interest of Splatoon in the US, where it actually sold more for the original.

All you got to do is type in Splatoon 2 in the search bar of youtube. People are indeed talking about it and playing it.

@deucezulu22 Have you seen how the sales compared for Splatoon 1 in US and Japan corresponding to the Wii Us sold? Splatoon sold a lot of copied in Japan compared to the amount of Wii Us sold. While in the US it's true that they sold more copies than Japan, but that's because the US population is high so the ideal and fair way to calculate is how I said, correspondence. So lemme summarise, Splatoon sold less units per Wii U in US while it sold more units per Wii U in Japan. The install base divided by the no of Wii Us sold in the respective countries I mean. As for popularity, that is a debatable topic which is mainly dependent on opinion, maybe you saw more and maybe I saw less...